Recommend me a Garmin watch

Hello,

Looking to get myself a new Garmin watch, just after some advice on which one to get, it’s for Mountain biking and the odd spin session. Want to connect a cadence sensor when on the spin bike, and also have a heart rate chest strap to connect.
Any advise welcomed , (there’s just so many to choose from)

Cheers in advance

PaulH

What do you want it to do and what sensors to connect to it?

If you want wrist based heart rate then the 45 is a decent enough budget option.

If you want more training options then you can rapidly go up in cost.

I compared 45 vs 235 vs 645 music and went for the last option as I could sync Spotify playlists onto it so when I go running or commute I can use Bluetooth headphones just with the watch and no need to take my phone for music.

sportpursuit had the fenix on offer recently

Very happy with my Fenix 5+

Assume the 6 is better still!

Deals are available too.

The wrist HR optical sensors are a bit crap during any activity. I have an instinct and use a chest strap which integrates perfectly. If using just the wrist sensor it can talk bollox – I had a spirited 5 mile walk today round local windfarm and it had me between 50 and 70 throughout. I know that I was between 90 and 140 !

Interestingly, my friend and I tested the wrist HR thing recently. He sees some variance between his Garmin chest HR and his fenix, so we tested my Forerunner 245 against on me using the same chesty.

There was a small lag in the timing of reporting, but the accuracy was so close as to be indistinguishable.

See he suffers cole hands/circulation and I dont, we drew the conclusion that it was down to the individual.

^^^ what activity did you use for the comparison ?

I’ve had a few, and would say on balance the more expensive ones (Fenix 5 onwards) are OK. the cheaper ones less so, not because of functionality, but just the construction isn’t as robust. My Fenix 5 plus has been worry free, does everything I need, from messages, through playing music, to obviously recording my activities.

I was impressed also with a Suunto 7 which is about the same money and functionality as the Fenix 5 plus. Worth thinking about as an alternative

wrist based heart rate is of more or less use depending on the individual concerned according to dcrainmaker. https://www.dcrainmaker.com/

i have a FR935. been happy with it but the atmospheric altimeter appears to be telling lies and you can’t have it setup to default to using the GPS, which would be less accurate than a working pressure sensor, but considerably more accurate than the bullshit mine is coming out with. seems to be a common failure.

rainmaker has masses of detail on most of these devices, probably more than most of us want, but it’s useful if you ‘really’ want to know.

As its a watch you’re after I’m guessing you’ll want it to do the normal watch fitness tracking too (else there’s no reason to get a watch over a proper gps).

I have a forerunner 245 music which is excellent, the new 745 is also good. They’re biased towards running but then if you want a proper multi sport watch you’re looking a more expense.

2nd using the HRM strap, mine is 20-30bpm lower using the wrist based sensor, both running and cycling.

Start by setting your budget, unless it’s £500 you’ll remove half the watches available. Then decide if you want maps or certain other features.

Vivoactive 4

Doesn’t have all the fitness metrics of the higher end watches but it’s enough for your requirements and it’s less than £200

Previously Fenix 5x Plus now 6X Solar love both either one would suit.

4S here, have a 3 too. The newer HR sensor on the 4S is far better, but they all have to be just tight enough, too loose or too tight and it’ll read poorly.

I can also see the viewpoint that it may be dependant on the individual too though.

45, 645, etc, 3,4 or 4s will all do what you want, it’s then down to cost and looks.

Upgraded from a forerunner 35 to a Vivoactive 4 during the lockdown PSA. Really happy with it, does everything I want well and has so many more features that I use but never thought I would.

I went with an instinct for mtb and mucky outdoors purely because it is rugged (have seen more than one high end smartwatch killed through mtb/climbing/paddling in what appeared to be fairly innocuous circumstances) and had nav and basic fitness functions covered. I don’t wear it as my everyday watch though.

what activity did you use for the comparison ?

We did mtb and trail running.

He only had a discrepancy on the bike. Running was a pretty close match.

I have the Vivoactive 4/Venu. I’ve got a couple of major gripes with this watch.

1st is the lack of ability to save/park an activity – you can ‘pause’ a ride but it will autosave after 15 minutes. The Forerunners and Fenix watches both have this ability but as the Vivoactive is seen more of a ‘lifestyle’ watch, Garmin decided to leave this feature out of the vivoactive/Venu. It also means that for multiday activities, you would need to keep the activity going whiles stopped/sleeping if you wanted to record the ride as a complete activity. This has been a big dissapointment for me.

2nd is the altimeter – it only auto calibrates at the begining of an activity. This seems to be fine for short rides but the altimeter on my watch would run out over the course of an acitvity. This isn’t realy noticeable for rides <2 hours but for all day rides, my watch could end up over a 1000ft out. I did the captial trail recently and it totalled about 3000ft out over the course of the weekend.

I’ve sent the watch back for replacement under warranty for the altimeter issue – when I get the replacement I am going to sell it as the permformance just doesn’t match the price unfortunately. My advice would be to go for one of the higher end Forerunners or Fenix

I use the vivofit 3 music, does all I want for general spins on the mtb (tracks route, distance, mtrs climbed, loads to Strava). you can connect cadence sensors, don’t know if you can override the wrist sensor with a chest sensor as I don’t use it for the turbo. Personally I’ve compared the wrist hrm output from the watch with a chest sensor and found them both to match albeit with a small lag from the watch.

I’m always tempted to go for a Fenix 5s saphire especially when sports pursuits had them for £309 a few weeks back (they’ve now gone up to £349. However when I apply logic I realise the watch I have does all I need.

You can probably get a basic android or iOS app that will display output from your chest hrm and cadence sensor for when you’re on the Turbo, if the chest strap and sensor also transmit via Bluetooth as well as Ant+ ?

As previous poster
Sport Pursuit.

GARMIN
Fenix 5X Sapphire Multisport GPS Watch (Slate Grey/Black)
SAVE 33%
£349.99 from £520.00

I have one and they are excellent. Long battery life, do everything you need, Garmin pay works and so does music.

Do those bigger Garmin watches not batter the back of your hand whilst riding anything rough?

Scienceofficer
Free Member
what activity did you use for the comparison ?

We did mtb and trail running.

He only had a discrepancy on the bike. Running was a pretty close match.

Posted 8 hours ago

Interesting to know, thanks. Maybe my Instinct is a bit borked…

Do those bigger Garmin watches not batter the back of your hand whilst riding anything rough?

No. You need to cinch the strap up reasonably tightly in order for the HR monitor to work anything like effectively, so it tends not to move about all that much

Have Instinct and V4 and had a F3 previously.

Instinct
+ tough reliable
+ 90% of functionality of F3
+ good battery
– no garmin pay
– no music
– not the most stylish
– older generation HR sensors

V4
+ more metrics than Instinct
+ music and garmin pay
+ looks good
+ accurate HR and elevation sensors
– No facility to stop activity mid-ride (big omission)
– not especially rugged
– touchscreen can be irritating at times kitesurfing or surfing

I’ve a 6 Pro Sapphire on order which combines the best of both…..

Instinct
+ tough reliable
+ 90% of functionality of F3
+ good battery
– no garmin pay
– no music
– not the most stylish
– older generation HR sensors

I didn’t realise the sensors had been updated. Wonder if the new solar one has the updates ??

Rudedog, agree, autosave is a pita. There’s 2 ways around it, either stop after activity and turn off – not ideal – or get a flat charger cable off Amazon, it’s a big round disc the same size as the watch with a firm clip connection.

I used this with the watch strap wrapped around the bars doing the WHW, plugged into a wee USB battery pack in the fuel tank bag on my bike. If hiking, you could stick it in your pack, or hipbelt pocket.

You can then just leave the ride running, as the watch runs off the battery pack. I finished the WHW with 100% charge.

This works great, as you’re only interested in your moving time anyway.

As for altimeter, my 4 (mistakenly typed 4s up there, which my wife has) is great, never very far out at all, as you can see below….

Mikertroid, the not having a stop mid ride is hardly a big omission, the battery on mine lasts about 18 hours, just leave it running when you have lunch, the likes of strava shows elapsed time and moving time, what other time are you looking for? You did actually stop, so what’s the issue?.

Agree of you’re talking multi day stuff, but even at that you’re still getting to record a full days riding.

There’s an app called hike2 that apparently by passes the autosave, I’d imagine there’s a cycling one too on IQ somewhere.

It’s a total pain when stopped for lunch etc. and an inexcusable omission IMHO…Also a PITA if you just want a 2-way ride recorded as a single activity. You need to keep watch in activity all day!

Don’t get me wrong, I like the V4 and expect to use it at work when I get my F6; the touchscreen is handy at times.

I do multi-day rides but tend to do each day separately.

@ianc the V4 has a newer generation sensor than the Instinct Mk1. Seems to be more responsive, particularly in water.

Reading this with interest as my VA3 has just borked itself, totally dead, was 2nd hand from Ebay and have just ordered a VA4 brand new for the warranty. I figured the extra battery life over the Venu’s fancy screen would be more useful IRL. Always nice to read good things about it. The multi day thing would never bother me as I’d just record them as sperate days anyway. I suppose you can always stitch the gps files together if you really wanted to.
Annoyingly the wife’s 735XT died two days after mine, she’s just gone for another exactly the same. It’s been an expensive weekend on Garmins…

The V4 is a great watch all-in 👍🏼

The VA3 is currently down to £123 on Amazon.

If I wasn’t bothered about it having music storage I’d have gone for that. As it is I find music essential for running, especially in the early mornings 🙂

I like my Garmin devices to be able to do elevation whilst riding so opt for ones with the barometer. I had a 920xt but replaced it with the 735XT not realising it didnt have the barometer. Picked up an edge 130 which goes on the bike for now but will replace in the future with the 945 or whichever Fenix 5/6 has a barometer.

I had (well, still have) a vivioactive 3 music. Great watch that recorded rides etc well. Could link to ANT+ things for more data.
But, the inability to ‘resume later’ WAS a PITA.
Also, i grew to NOT love the touchscreen, as it would often ‘save’ if i’d stopped at a cafe etc. That was annoyting.
But for the money it’s brill.

I got a Fenix 5 sapphire (NHS discount) that was expensive at about £360 ish, but it’s fantastic. Amazing battery. Great screen (higher res). Maps – there are fantastic, and means I can go for runs on new routes with ease. can also get run pacer and ETA etc.
It is, however, about twice as heavy!
I got a cheapo blue strap for twelve quid from Amazon – looks fab!

Do I think the Fenix is worth it… erm, yeah, I do.

If you’re just going to buy ONE smart watch, the fenix IS the better option, and will do everything the VA3 did, but better…

DrP

great thread, but has just cost me some money as have decided to upgrade my December 18 Instinct to the new Solar one.

I watched the dcrainmaker review and the balance of better battery life and the new optical HR sensor swung it for me. Current one, in flame red, will be on classifieds later this week !

Also, i grew to NOT love the touchscreen, as it would often ‘save’ if i’d stopped at a cafe etc. That was annoyting.

Lock during activity addresses this.

I noticed the Instinct Solar is £299.00 (normally £349) on Amazon at the mo. as long as you don’t mind blue.

I’ve just gone from a fenix 2 to a Venu + an edge explore. Pretty pleased with both so far. Venu for health tracking + running with music. Explore for biking, first ride out at the weekend and it was a success. Thought about a fenix 6 of some sort but it felt like a comprise over two separate devices.

Trying to make my mind on what watch to go for.

Running is the priority, no music, would prefer mapping, but not essential as I have that on my phone.

Garmin 245 £180
Garmin 645 £200

What else? I like the Pulse Ox function on the 245. Garmin do appear to be making it difficult to just choose one watch !

There is the Fenix 5x on sport pursuit, but I cant really see what else its giving me than either of the above?

Ta

I like the instinct for trail running and mtb. But mine at least hasn’t been great- the street button lost its click early on, the vibration motor failed and battery life soon dropped. Screen would crash when you tried to race a previous activity. Wrist HR often underreports.

Following a route on a non mapping device is always hit and miss and not really the Garmin’s fault. Sharp turns are fine but arriving at a trail fork, you invariably take the wrong branch.

Couldn’t honestly recommend it but I’ll see if I can get it refurbed as I do like the interface.

Those with inaccurate wrist based HR. Try putting the watch on your stronger arm and much further up. I used to always wear a chest HRM as wrist based was so inaccurate (735 + 945 which uses the newer sensors). I now wear mine on my right arm, strapped very tight to stop it moving down, almost halfway up my forearm. Only when doing hiit stuff and sweaty indoor activities mind.
Battery on 945 is amazing. After 12 hrs of GPS+Galileo it was still on 60%! Turn off Bluetooth during a big day to help.